We commend to your attention a feature in Smithsonian Magazine about Atsuo Sakurai, who’s been brewing award-winning sake — a rice wine — in the unlikely town of Holbrook, Arizona, along Route 66.
We’ve posted stories about Sakurai and his Arizona Sake Co. before, but this one goes more in-depth. A few tidbits:
- For the uninitiated, sake is made from rice, water, yeast and a grain fungus known as koji.
- Sakuri says he’s the only certified first-grade sake brewer in the United States.
- He learned his trade about 15 years ago at a sake factory in Akura, Japan, and kept getting better at it, including finishing third one year in a prestigious contest in Niigata.
- Sakurai met his future wife, Heather, a member of the Navajo Nation living in Japan at the time, during a factory tour.
- A chat with Holbrook local at a park persuaded him to build a sake business there instead of in the Pacific Northwest. “Why not do your sake here? We have a big aquifer and the water is good. Maybe that’s all you need.”
- Sakuri was apprehensive about Holbrook’s climate hurting the quality of his sake. But the low humidity largely prevented molds, yeasts, germs and other contaminants, making it easier to brew.
- He won gold medals at the Tokyo Sake Competition and Los Angeles International Wine Competition, and his sake was served at the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles.
- He has launched Navajo tea sake, a tribute to his Navajo wife and in-laws.
Sakuri also gave the reporter some intriguing quotes to chew over, such as this one:
“In Japan, I cannot be free,” he said in slow, careful English. “I cannot make my own sake, because there are too many government regulations. Here in Arizona, I am my own boss and this is why I came to America. For freedom and independence. My friends in Holbrook say I am a samurai in a cowboy hat, or that I wear a cowboy hat like a samurai helmet. I love this.”
He also explained why Japan’s bureaucracy prompted him to launch his sake company in the United States:
“There is no opportunity to be an entrepreneur,” he declares. “The government says there are enough sake companies, so they won’t give any new licenses. If you have a million dollars, you can purchase an existing sake business, but I didn’t have a million dollars. In Japan, I would always have to work for an established company, and obey the strict government rules about how sake must be made. No innovations are allowed.”
Here’s an Arizona television station’s story about Arizona Sake earlier this year:
If you’re on Route 66 in Holbrook, you can buy Arizona Sake at West End Liquors, Hatch’s Quick Stop, Super Fuel and Hatch’s Corner Gas. Several stores in Flagstaff also carry it, along with a bunch of outlets in the Phoenix metro area. A buying guide can be found here.
(Bottles of Arizona Sake and its medals via Facebook)